Home Births on the Rise for New York Families

By

Gabrielle Birkner

Aug. 25, 2013 10:04 p.m. ET

As her labor progressed, Jaime St. Peter went to her roof deck for some fresh air. In between contractions, her midwife fed her yogurt as cars whizzed past on the nearby Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. During contractions, Ms. St. Peter would clutch the deck's railing because, she said, "it felt very good to squat and hang."

After 38 hours of active labor—spent outside, in a kiddie pool set up in the dining room, and walking the...